[9.02] The TEXES/IRTF H2 Survey of Disk Sources

We used TEXES, the Texas Echelon-cross-Echelle Spectrograph
(Lacy et al. 2002), on the 3m NASA IRTF to search for
mid-infrared rotational H2 emission from 18 young stellar
objects. TEXES is a high spectral resolution, mid-infrared
spectrograph in use on the 3m IRTF since 2000 and scheduled
to become available as a visitor instrument on Gemini-North
in 2006B. We concentrated on the J=3-1 (17.03 micron) and
J=4-2 (12.28 micron) lines, spending roughly one hour of
time for each line on each source. The high spectral
resolution of TEXES gives R~60,000 for J=3-1 and R~80,000
for J=4-2. In certain cases, we also observed the J=6-4
(8.025 micron) feature. Roughly a third of the sources show
either clear or potential detections. For the best cases, we
have velocity-resolved information regarding the line flux
at three separate transitions and can investigate the
physical conditions of the emitting gas. Ratios of these
mid-infrared lines are sensitive to gas with temperatures
between roughly 200 and 800 K. Even non-detections can
establish limits to the amount of warm, isolated H2 in
the system.

Observations with TEXES are supported by NSF grant
AST-0205518. MJR is supported by NASA award NNG04GG92G and
NSF award AST-0307497.